It might be even more explicit. We may begin to be aware that God, the Word made flesh, is dwelling at the very center of our being. In any case, the movement toward interior silence triggers a phenomenon that might be called centering. St. John of the Cross has a few words about this that are enlightening. He says that we are attracted to God as to our center, like a stone toward the center of the earth. If we remove the obstacles, the ego-self with all of its paraphernalia, and surrender to God, we penetrate through the various layers of our psyche until we reach the very center or core of our being. At that point there remains one more center to which we may advance. This center is the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who dwell at the inmost center of our being. It is out of that Presence that our whole being emerges at every moment. To be at this center is eternal life. To remain at this center in the midst of activity is what Christ called the reign of God.* Thomas Keating: The Heart of the World: 58. * St John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love. (Garden City, NY. Doubleday, 1971) Stanza 1, 12.
When the wave knows that its ground of being is water, it overcomes all fear and sorrow. Thich Nhat Hanh. Intro to Merton's Contemplative Prayer. Pg 6. 1996.
The ultimate perfection of the contemplative life is not a heaven of separate individuals, each one viewing his own private intuition of God; it is a sea of Love which flows through the One Body of all the elect, all the angels and saints, and their contemplation would be incomplete if it were not shared, or if it were shared with fewer souls, or with spirits capable of less vision and less joy. Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation. (New York: New Directions Books 1961) p 65.
What is the purpose of meditation in the sense of "the prayer of the heart?"
In the "prayer of the heart" we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God. We do not reason about dogmas of faith, or "the mysteries." We seek rather to gain a direct existential grasp, a personal experience of the deepest truths of life and faith, finding ourselves in God's truth. ...Prayer then means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, for knowledge of his will and for capacity to hear and obey him.
Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer. (New York: Image Books, 1996), p. 67.
If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere. Thomas Merton: Thoughts in Solitude 10:42.
If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere. Thomas Merton: Thoughts in Solitude 10:42.
[Christmas Letter, 1966] Most of you, even with all that you have to suffer, are much better off than you realize. Yet the heart of man can be full of so much pain, even when things are exteriorly "all right". It becomes all the more difficult because today we are used to thinking that there are explanations for everything. But there is no explanation for most of what goes on in our own hearts, and we cannot account for it all. No use resorting to mental tranquilizers that even religious explanations sometimes offer. Faith must be deeper than that, rooted in the unknown and in the abyss of darkness that is the ground of our being. No use teasing the darkness to try to make answers grow out of it. But if we learn how to have a deep inner patience, things solve themselves, or God solves them if you prefer, but do not expect to see how. Just learn to wait, and do what you can and help other people. Thomas Merton. The Road to Joy, Robert E. Daggy, editor (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1989): 94.
Face meditation with the energy you would take to climb a precipice or a white water rafting trip. Bring all of your being into the present with an intensity to converge with God. Bring your whole being to the table and remain vibrantly alert and diligent. Anything else can be a meditative slumber, self created imaginings of a spiritual experience or a dreamy nappy rest. God's there. Be there too.
In Thoughts in Solitude, Part Two, Chapter II consists of fifteen lines that have become known as "the Merton Prayer."
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
It might be even more explicit. We may begin to be aware that God, the Word made flesh, is dwelling at the very center of our being. In any case, the movement toward interior silence triggers a phenomenon that might be called centering. St. John of the Cross has a few words about this that are enlightening. He says that we are attracted to God as to our center, like a stone toward the center of the earth. If we remove the obstacles, the ego-self with all of its paraphernalia, and surrender to God, we penetrate through the various layers of our psyche until we reach the very center or core of our being. At that point there remains one more center to which we may advance. This center is the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who dwell at the inmost center of our being. It is out of that Presence that our whole being emerges at every moment. To be at this center is eternal life. To remain at this center in the midst of activity is what Christ called the reign of God.* Thomas Keating: The Heart of the World: 58. * St John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love. (Garden City, NY. Doubleday, 1971) Stanza 1, 12.
When the wave knows that its ground of being is water, it overcomes all fear and sorrow. Thich Nhat Hanh. Intro to Merton's Contemplative Prayer. Pg 6. 1996.
The ultimate perfection of the contemplative life is not a heaven of separate individuals, each one viewing his own private intuition of God; it is a sea of Love which flows through the One Body of all the elect, all the angels and saints, and their contemplation would be incomplete if it were not shared, or if it were shared with fewer souls, or with spirits capable of less vision and less joy. Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation. (New York: New Directions Books 1961) p 65.
What is the purpose of meditation in the sense of "the prayer of the heart?"
In the "prayer of the heart" we seek first of all the deepest ground of our identity in God. We do not reason about dogmas of faith, or "the mysteries." We seek rather to gain a direct existential grasp, a personal experience of the deepest truths of life and faith, finding ourselves in God's truth. ...Prayer then means yearning for the simple presence of God, for a personal understanding of his word, for knowledge of his will and for capacity to hear and obey him.
Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer. (New York: Image Books, 1996), p. 67.
If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere. Thomas Merton: Thoughts in Solitude 10:42.
If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. Let us not fear the responsibilities and the inevitable distractions of the work appointed for us by the will of God. Let us embrace reality and thus find ourselves immersed in the life-giving will and wisdom of God which surrounds us everywhere. Thomas Merton: Thoughts in Solitude 10:42.
[Christmas Letter, 1966] Most of you, even with all that you have to suffer, are much better off than you realize. Yet the heart of man can be full of so much pain, even when things are exteriorly "all right". It becomes all the more difficult because today we are used to thinking that there are explanations for everything. But there is no explanation for most of what goes on in our own hearts, and we cannot account for it all. No use resorting to mental tranquilizers that even religious explanations sometimes offer. Faith must be deeper than that, rooted in the unknown and in the abyss of darkness that is the ground of our being. No use teasing the darkness to try to make answers grow out of it. But if we learn how to have a deep inner patience, things solve themselves, or God solves them if you prefer, but do not expect to see how. Just learn to wait, and do what you can and help other people. Thomas Merton. The Road to Joy, Robert E. Daggy, editor (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1989): 94.
Face meditation with the energy you would take to climb a precipice or a white water rafting trip. Bring all of your being into the present with an intensity to converge with God. Bring your whole being to the table and remain vibrantly alert and diligent. Anything else can be a meditative slumber, self created imaginings of a spiritual experience or a dreamy nappy rest. God's there. Be there too.
In Thoughts in Solitude, Part Two, Chapter II consists of fifteen lines that have become known as "the Merton Prayer."
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"